The Bennett government's difficulties so far were just the beginning. What is expected in the budget?

July 11, 2021   

From the moment of its birth, the new government understood that the Knesset was its greatest enemy. Want to know how I became a manager with a bombshell salary without leaving home? Worried about your children? This is what top doctors recommend doing now Here you will receive clear information: Have you returned from abroad? Have you been near a sick person? Do you want to travel? From the beginning, the coalition leaders worked to eliminate the influence of the Knesset, weaken its position, and prevent it from causing trouble for the fragile government that had just been formed. After the government failed to pass the laws it wanted in the first month, and even though its fall still seems very distant, the government will face the next significant challenge: private legislation that will begin soon. And this is only the preparation and appetizer for the main course: passing the state budget. Although passing a budget is a crucial task for the government, since failure to pass it would bring it down, the challenges in private legislation may be more difficult, certainly more frequent, and perhaps no less devastating. Until the previous government, no government had fallen for lack of a budget. In contrast, many governments have fallen after losing control of the Knesset. One of the brilliant parliamentarians, Yaakov Litzman, who was the chairman of the Finance Committee for many years, was once asked whether it was possible that a certain crisis, which erupted at that time against the backdrop of budgetary demands from a particular party, might end in an explosion. "No," he replied simply, "Money is the cheapest thing." Given the composition of the government and the huge gaps between its components, it seems that in order to please everyone, it will be necessary to pour money everywhere. It is already known that the Arrangements Law that will be attached to the budget will be the largest and most inflated of all time. Knowing that 53 billion shekels have already been promised to the RAAM, one can only imagine the size of the next budget. One that might make us miss the current ongoing budget, just as the paralysis of the election campaigns was dwarfed by the paralysis of the Knesset upon the formation of the government. But the bottom line is, it is difficult to see a situation that will not pass. Even if all parties try to stretch the blanket to the limit of their ability, for the sake of the government's survival, everyone will discover how flexible it is. Even the differences in economic approaches between capitalists and socialists will be closed at the moment of truth, for the sake of the common goal that is currently stronger than ever. The only step that could harm the integrity of stability is if one side decides to use the budget as an excuse to dismantle everything. Right now it seems far away and unrealistic, but in four months things may look different.